Install gone wrong....

OK...I am going to explain to you how an install can go very wrong but first a few other things to share. Thanks for all of the birthday wishes. Birthdays. Love em [glad I am still around to celebrate]. Hate em [they are coming at a very rapid pace now]. I'm not 60 yet but if 60 is the new 40 then can I run into Wet Seal for a little hot outfit? Something cute to go shopping at Scott's in????

Just kidding...I wouldn't want to make you gouge your eyes out. Speaking of Scott's, it's this weekend and quite a few bloggers are coming in town. I guess I have ranted enough about shopping there, that it is becoming a shrine. Hope they aren't disappointed and find some good deals. It is a little like TJ Maxx ...you have to hunt and sometimes you find nuthin.....

I am also participating in this at the Spring Mart.

Notice how it says the "hottest" design bloggers.....that is why I might need the Wet Seal outfit. Does that mean hot like sexy hot? I always say better to be overdressed than underdressed!
I have designed my pillow but whether it is a "decorative masterpiece" remains to be declared.

OK on to the install gone bad. And on the morning of my birthday no less. Cafe curtains, 6 pillows and a desk skirt. Sounds simple enough. Rods and rings. Check. Installer set up. Check. Pick it all up from the fabricator. Check. Good to go, let do it.

The pillows were great. Kind of hard to mess up pillows. Here were the fabrics I selected. The stripe is already on the DR chair seats.

Here is the sofa before. It had been in the LR previously. It was recovered in a cream linen and put in the DR.

Here is the after.

We just used a creamy linen. Should have taken the arm covers off before the shot.

The pillows.

One more shot

It still needs a little accessorizing....we have a tall mirrored floor lamp to put in there and a cream garden stool. Thrilled. Done. On to the desk skirt.

She wanted to move her desk up from the basement to the LR. Because...her house was broken in to last year while she was there! Scary. So we re-arranged the space a little and brought it up. But it was not so pretty so a desk skirt is the answer right!

OK...notice the pleat in the front? Well that is supposed to be right on the corner. Yup...they made it backwards. Think totally reversed.

At this corner......I hastily put it on so I could show her the mess. That goes back to be fixed.

I do not have a picture of the next disaster, the cafe curtains. I was way too bummed pissed to document any more failures that day. For some reason he made the curtain [a large 4 window wall] just one large panel. One. How the hell are you going to open the darn thing. Really. Take down....and along with the desk skirt throw back in the car grumbling. Back to fabricators.....for a little re-do. There you have it, day in the life.....

I could have handled one thing going wrong but 2.......it about pushed me over the edge. Oh well enough complaining.

27 comments

Oh...the true challenges of pulling a room together. It's a good reminder that it isn't always easy and a good designer like yourself is a rooms (and client's) best friend!! You'll pull it off in style, sorry you hit some roadblocks.

The best laid plans...even with specific instructions, these things can happen, for that reason I agree with Janell's comment...I am still sitting on a bay window's worth of silk fabric, already cut for panels and valences by a fabricator gone AWOL, thankfully that did not ruin my birthday and the client was very understanding!CathyPS Wet Seal is a store I have never frequented, I may have to check it out to get the visual. LOL!

you're fabric selection is gorgeous...I think that would be the hardest thing for me to do is select fabric..I love them ALL!!!!....and the Pillow Talk and Cocktails sounds like fun...best of luck with that....maureen

Okay, prepare for a long comment. First, congrats on the Pillow Talk presentation. And I got to Wet Seal with my teenage daughters. Sad thing is, my initial thoughts are "That's cute, I should try it on" - and then reality hits. I'm a little beyond that look, shall we say. Next, I adore the sofa makeover - I have a camelback that I plan to have reupholstered and I love the fabric choice and that skirt is killing me! Saving that image! And sorry about the install from hell - sounds like you handled it with class. Can't wait to see everything in place as you ordered it - looks great so far! Happy shopping at Scotts - hope the weather dries up for you!

Still trying to recover from the break in while she was home....SCARY! The room looks so great! i love the mix of fabrics on the pillows. I comletely fail when it comes to mixing patterns:( The button trim on the desk is perfect!

Love that button trim and all your fabric choices. Must have been SUCH a disappointment to get it so close and then have to take two things back for a redo. In a way though it's good to know that these mistakes can happen to anyone, so thanks for sharing with such humor and class!

First off, happy belated birthday lovely! Next, on a positive note, the room looks AMAZING! Love the dark blue walls and that sofa looks beyond gorgeous. I know the rest sucks but it will get fixed and soon the whole thing will be gorgeous. Love what you've put together here.

This is the ugly truth that people watching HGTV never see. There are so many things that go wrong before the room is perfect. It's great to share those disappointments as well as the successes. The room is looking great. I have tremendous confidence you will make it shine.

Oh girlfriend, when crap like that happens on your *birthday* (of all the days!), then you have earned the right to vent all you like! Grrr...but on a happy note, the sofa is *FABULOUS*! Those fabrics are little matches made in design heaven...

Oh no!!! Don't you just hate when that happens. I've been on plenty of those installs gone bad. Most of the time you just have to grin and bare it. Then have an extra-large cocktail to ease the pain. LOL. The great thing is that the rest of the room looks amazing. I love the pillow combo on the sofa. xoxo, -c

When I saw the sofa with the beautiful pillows I couldn't imagine being upset about anything, but I know what a pisser that is to have your beautiful plans shot to hell. It will look beautiful in the end, and for now the sofa looks fab!

I can't wait for our Scott's meet-up! And don't worry, I'm trying to keep my expectations low so I'll hopefully be surprised. I've been twice and it is hit or miss. I mainly excited about meeting you girls!!

I know how you feel. I once had an upholstery manufacturer reverse the fabric to the wrong side on two sofas that a client ordered from my shop. And of course, the fabric was COM. About $2000 worth. I thought I would die and go out of business, and I didn't care in which order that took place!

Surprisingly, the client came in and decided that she liked the fabric better reversed.

I'm still alive, but I did, eventually, go out of business. But because I was tired of the problems!

I recently supervised an install in my own home where EVERTHING went wrong with the window treatments (all 10 of them...from the pleats, to the length, to the rod size). I hired smeone instead of managing it myself, yet its turned out to be more stressful. So frustrating, but I have to keep remembering, it's all just "stuff" and can be fixed, remade, etc. Still trying to work out the kinks!